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Wednesday, February 14, 2018

Blogtour: In Wild Lemon Groves by Selina Kray

Hi, I'm Selina Kray, and this is the latest stop on my blog tour for In Wild Lemon Groves, my new contemporary M/M romance set in Amalfi, Italy. A big thanks to the kind folks at My Fiction Nook for hosting me!As a huge cinephile and pop-culture obsessive, it will come as no surprise to you that I often reference movies in my books. Images from three movies in particular haunted me as I wrote In Wild Lemon Groves, in part because Italy has been the backdrop for so many great movies.The most obvious reference is Eat, Pray, Love. My character Seb, just like Julia Roberts in that film, has come to Italy for nourishment, both spiritual and, well, carnal. In both senses of that word. I ate so many delicious things while in Italy, and I took care to make Seb's meals just as mouth-watering and luscious. That some of those meals overlap with the other kind of carnal elements in the book... well, Freud might have something to say about that, but I think you'll be pleased.The second cinematic inspiration isn't set in Italy. But I couldn't stop thinking about How Stella Got Her Groove Back. First, because Seb's on a quest to lift his spirits and make life worth living again. Second, because... well, spoilers. (Hint: it's in the title.) There's even an Angela Basset-like secondary character who gets a little lovin' in her own right.The final and most important film inspiration is The Talented Mr. Ripley. No Tom Ripley-esque shenanigans happen in In Wild Lemon Groves--this is a romance, after all. But that movie was filmed in and around Amalfi, namechecks Positano, and is all seductive Italian atmosphere. Seb has a major emotional moment at one of the hotels where they filmed Ripley, and many scenes from the film lingered in my mind as I was writing the book.So take a trip through film history in the pages of In Wild Lemon Groves, and fall in love with those movies, and Italy, all over again.

A telltale knock on a quiet winter night is a sound no husband wants to hear.

Sébastien Osaki has spent the past three years surviving the loss of his beloved Henry. When Seb lands in Amalfi, Italy, for their would-have-been tenth-anniversary trip, he’s haunted by the memory of the man he loved. Following Henry’s notebook leads him to some breathtaking coastal views but also right back to his despair. Seb’s there to get his groove back, not let the past wrong-foot him at every turn.

Enter Andrea Sorrentino, chauffeur, part-time pet whisperer, a Bernini statue in a soccer tee and tight shorts. From the moment Andrea picks Seb up from the airport, he knows just how to soothe Seb’s case of the sulks. But Seb isn’t sure he’s ready for Mr. Right Now, let alone a potential Mr. Right, in a part of the world where all roads lead back to Henry.Can sun, sea, and eating your weight in pasta mend a tragedy-stricken heart? Will wine-soaked Amalfi nights and long walks through lemon groves work their magic on Seb’s wounded soul? Or will he slink back into the shell of his grief once his grand Italian adventure is over?

Selina Kray is the nom de plume of an author and English editor. Professionally she has covered all the artsy-fartsy bases, having worked in a bookstore, at a cinema, in children’s television, and in television distribution, up to her latest incarnation as a subtitle editor and grammar nerd (though she may have always been a grammar nerd). A self-proclaimed geek and pop culture junkie who sometimes manages to pry herself away from the review sites and gossip blogs to write fiction of her own, she is a voracious consumer of art with both a capital and lowercase A.

Selina’s aim is to write genre-spanning romances with intricate plots, complex characters, and lots of heart. Whether she has achieved this goal is for you, gentle readers, to decide. At present she is hard at work on future novels at home in Montreal, Quebec, with her wee corgi serving as both foot warmer and in-house critic.

If you’re interested in receiving Selina’s newsletter and being the first to know when new books are released, plus getting sneak peeks at upcoming novels, please sign up at her website.